


What Tomorrow May Bring

by mixthealphabet



Series: And It Grows [8]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Cuddle, F/M, Fluff, Home verse, Nalu Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-19 04:16:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/879361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixthealphabet/pseuds/mixthealphabet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He would always be there to ruin her carefully made plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Tomorrow May Bring

_I've got a little confession: I don't know what I'm doing. But if you want, you can play along. Maybe I'll wake to find that I went and blew it, but 'til I do, I'll keep going strong._

Their friendship had been a weird little thing since the beginning.

Lucy Heartfilia had been pampered her entire life. She'd had the best dresses, the best teachers and had always been around people who would protect her of whatever dangers could come. Even as a kid, she never had the possibility of bruised knees or stupid accidents, for she was never allowed such small pleasures.

Her path was determined very soon. She would be the link that connected all of her father's exploits, the one thing that would make sure the Heartfilia concern would preserve its prestige for years to come.

What was this big role of hers?

A wife.

Her childhood had been filled with the most common aspects of a  _girl_ 's life: etiquette, cooking, sewing and learning how to manage a household. When little, Lucy found happiness in these teachings, thinking that she could someday be like her mother.

Thinking that maybe then her father would love her again.

As the girl grew up, she started to notice little things about the society she'd been born in.

All the knowledge she'd gained had contributed to her already sharp mind, and Lucy, at her fifteen years old, was much more intelligent than most of the females she was allowed to befriend. It allowed her to be witty and sarcastic without seeming impolite, and mocking others without them perceiving it became a sort of relief from all the stress she was put through.

Something that usually came from the more uncomfortable part of the things she observed.

In her father's parties, she was little more than a pretty object.

People – especially men – would look at her without shame, analyzing all that had changed in the angles of her face, in the curves of her body. They were relentless in their comments, as well, making compliments or suggestions that only served to make Lucy feel self-conscious.

Who were these people to stare at her, to say things about her hair or her waist or her  _bust_? She was a child still, immersed in a world that was slowly becoming a living nightmare.

In time, the blonde started to recognize something different in the eyes of the more daring men, the ones that would slip a hand to the small of her back when they danced or those who insisted that a glass of wine was everything she needed to  _loosen up_.

They weren't staring. They were leering.

She didn't welcome the idea of marriage anymore, for all she could think when her father mentioned such plans was of hands that she wouldn't be allowed to escape from or keys that would be locked up somewhere so she couldn't run away.

And run away she did, before it was too late.

When they met, the first thing Lucy understood about the boy was that Natsu Dragneel was different from anyone she'd ever encountered before.

He ate like a Neanderthal, letting crumbs fall to his clothes, he laughed loudly and he didn't care about the glares he received from the people around them. He didn't smell of sweat – as most men that bothered her around the cities did – or of cologne; his scent was something similar to campfires and wax, like a candle after being blown out. He didn't look at her breasts, not even once.

And, for some reason, she adored him for it.

Finding out that he was from Fairy Tail came as a surprise, but it was a good one.

After years of dealing with lecherous guys and people who only wanted to take advantage of her money, status or body, Natsu was like breathing fresh air for the first time.

So she ran with him, accepting the hand – and the offer – he'd extended.

Natsu was raised by a dragon, Igneel, who he saw as his father. He had never known who his biological parents were, but he never seemed to care about it. There were more important things to worry about, like Fairy Tail, or getting into and out of trouble, or finding out where the heck Igneel had disappeared to.

Where Lucy was carefully made plans and looking before leaping, the boy was all impulses, doing whatever came to mind without a second thought about it. He never even tried to pretend that he knew what he was doing, unabashed when things went wrong and a grinning mess when they went right.

This, too, was something that surprised Lucy.

She had met a lot of strange people after running away from home, distinct personalities that had been added to the ones she'd encountered among her father's friends. They mixed in her mind, because none of them had ever truly caught her attention. Good, bad, true, false; there were extremes and in betweens and shades of gray, but she wanted _colors_.

Lucy supposed Natsu was exactly that.

He came into her life in a blur of pink colored hair and white pants against the night sky with a flying blue cat, crashing through wood and giving her hope when everything seemed lost.

(Bora was one of  _those_  guys, too well tailored clothes and a smirk that spoke of things he wanted to do against her will.)

Natsu was also the green from the forest in which his house was built, and the red from the blood they'd spilled in their battles, and the orange of his flames, and…

And the rainbow from the sakura blossoms as they drifted across the river that passed her apartment, looking every bit as beautiful as they would many years past that moment, when descending towards the two of them as she almost kissed him under the tree after the Hanami Party.

Lucy opened her eyes to the darkness of her room, suddenly very much awake in spite of the fact that the sun hadn't even started to rise.

Natsu was there, as well, wrapped around her in a way that made blood rush up to her cheeks for something that was both pleasure and embarrassment. There was a leg between hers and arms that enveloped her waist, a nose touching the junction of her shoulder and neck, and something hard pressing against her tight.

She wanted to scream.

Not because he was clearly overstepping his boundaries, nor because they were friends and friends weren't supposed to cuddle like this, finding warmth and security in each other's touches. No, instead she wanted to scream out of frustration, because she was the one that saw things through, the one who planned out every move before actually doing anything, so what the hell  _was_  she doing?

The blonde had known for a long time now that her feelings for Natsu were growing into something more than what she let on. For years, he had been her best friend, a constant in a life full of surprises and loneliness, but times were changing.

The fates were cruel.

The things he did for her that initially had simply seemed adorable were starting to do strange things to her heart. His joy was infectious, making her smile even when all else was going wrong. He would hug her from behind, throw an arm around her shoulders, press a kiss to her forehead, and Lucy would think that maybe… Maybe he felt something changing as well.

But she couldn't say it.

The words in her mind scrambled together, they ran through her head as they'd always done. Overthinking, overimagining, overreacting. They confused her so much –  _he_ confused her so much – that Lucy almost thought it would be better to pretend there was nothing there.

She turned in bed, moving to her side and bringing her face closer to his.

Afraid, the celestial mage made excuses. Natsu wouldn't understand her, because he was still too much of a child. Even the way his body responded to hers was just a product of his physiology, when his will was clouded by unconsciousness. There was no way that he was attracted to her.

It was harder to deny it, though, when the proof that he was indeed a young man was right there, against her hip.

It made strange things to  _her_  body.

"Lucy?"

The girl opened her eyes to find his half-lidded ones staring back.

"H-Hey." She stuttered out, trying to disguise her alertness.

"Sleep." Natsu muttered groggily, sighing as he pressed his face between her collarbone and the mattress. "Too early."

The panic that had started to well up in her mind diminished as she felt his breathing against her skin, the in-and-out that symbolized how the boy wasn't the least bit bothered about their positions. He was warm and vulnerable, hugging her like a sort of security blanket that he draped over himself.

For the first time in a very long time, Lucy realized how much trust he had in her, because she doubted he would ever expose himself so fully to anyone else.

Lucy had no idea what she'd done to deserve his friendship, nor his protection. Since the beginning, he'd been there for her, being the exact opposite of what she'd learned to expect from others. He'd been tactless and rash, destructive and loyal, and not the least bit attracted to her.

Which made it completely unfair for her to be this attracted to him.

The blonde moved a hand to his hair, tenderly playing with his locks as she started to drift back to sleep.

She had no idea what would happen to them. There were no clues in the way he acted; he hadn't rejected her, back in the Hanami Party, but she still didn't know if his inanity came from willingness or just cluelessness.

Since they were talking about Natsu, her opinion tended to the latter.

The following morning, she would pretend she knew everything once again. She would smile and laugh and act like she had her whole life figured out, even if it was just for show. Tomorrow was a mystery, as long as he was there to ruin her plans and fill her with doubts.

As the smell of wax invaded her senses, Lucy realized she didn't mind it at all.

**Author's Note:**

> The song is Make It Up, by Sam Tsui.  
> This is part of a series and the drabbles are starting to be seriously connected, so I would advise people to read the others.


End file.
